Scheme for the Co-ordination of admissions into Reception / Junior (Yr3) in September 2021 - Publication date: December 2019
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Scheme for the Co-ordination of admissions into
Reception / Junior (Yr3) in September 2021
Publication date:
December 2019
Contents
Definitions used in this scheme: ......................................................................................................................... 2
Scheme for the Co-ordination of Admissions to Reception / Junior in 2021/22 .......................................... 4
Background 4
Scheme for the co-ordination of Admissions into Reception / Junior in 2021/22 4
Processing Applications ............................................................................................................................... 5
Offers .............................................................................................................................................................. 7
Post-offer ........................................................................................................................................................ 7
SCHEDULE 1 - Minimum Content of Common Application Form (CAF) for Admissions into
Reception / Junior in 2021/20 ........................................................................................................................... 10
SCHEDULE 2 - LBH Timetable for Reception / Junior Admissions 2021/22 ............................................ 11
SCHEDULE 3 – LIAAG Timetable for Admissions to Reception / Junior in 2021/22............................... 12
SCHEDULE 4 – The Equal Preference System ............................................................................................ 13
1Definitions used in this scheme:
“LBH” The London Borough Of Havering
“LIAAG” The London Inter Admissions Authority Group
“the Application Year” the academic year in which the parent makes an
application (i.e. in relation to the academic year of entry,
the academic year preceding it).
“the Board” the Pan-London Admissions Executive Board, which is
responsible for the Scheme
“the Business User Guide the document issued annually to participating LAs setting
(BUG)” out the operational procedures of the Scheme
“the Common Application this is the form that each authority must have under the
Form” Regulations for parents to use to express their
preferences, set out in rank order
“the Equal Preference System” the model whereby all preferences listed by parents on the
Common Application Form are considered under the over-
subscription criteria for each school without reference to
parental rankings. Where a pupil is eligible to be offered
a place at more than one school within an LA, or across
more than one participating LA, the rankings are used to
determine the single offer by selecting the school ranked
highest of those which can offer a place
“the Highly Recommended the elements of the Template Scheme that are not
Elements” mandatory but to which subscription is strongly
recommended in order to maximise co-ordination and
thereby simplify the application process as far as possible
“the Home LA” the LA in which the applicant/parent/carer is resident
“the LIAAG Address the document containing the address verification policy of
Verification Register“ each participating LA
“the Local Admission System the IT module for administering admissions in each LA and
(LAS)” for determining the highest offer both within and between
participating LAs
“the London E-Admissions the common online application system used by the 33
Portal” London LAs and Surrey County Council
“the Maintaining LA” the LA which maintains a school, or within whose area an
academy is situated, for which a preference has been
expressed
“the Mandatory Elements” those elements of the Template Scheme to which
authorities must subscribe in order to be considered as
‘Participating Authorities’ and to benefit from use of the
Pan-London Register
2“the Notification Letter” the agreed form of letter sent to applicants on the
Prescribed Day which communicates any determination
granting or refusing admission to an infant / primary or
junior school, which is attached as Schedule 2
“the Prescribed Day” the day on which outcome letters are posted to
parents/carers.
16 April (infant / primary and junior) in the year following
the relevant determination year except that, in any year in
which that day is not a working day, the prescribed day
shall be the next working day.
“the Pan-London Register the database which will sort and transmit application and
(PLR)” outcome data between the LAS of each participating LA
“the Pan-London Timetable” the framework for processing of application and outcome
data, which is attached as Schedule 3
“the Participating LA” any LA that has indicated in the Memorandum of
Agreement that they are willing to incorporate, at a
minimum, the mandatory elements of the Template LA
Scheme presented here.
“the Qualifying Scheme” the scheme which each LA is required to formulate in
accordance with The School Admissions (Admission
Arrangements and Co-ordination of Admission
Arrangements) Regulations 2012, for co-ordinating
arrangements for the admission of children to maintained
primary and secondary schools and academies.
3Scheme for the Co-ordination of Admissions to Reception / Junior in
2021/22
Background
In accordance with the School Admissions (Admission Arrangements and Co-ordination of Admission
Arrangements) (England) Regulations 2012, all Local Authorities (LAs) are required to formulate a
schemes for co-ordinating arrangements for the admission of children to maintained Infant / Junior
and Primary schools and academies. Details of the London Borough of Havering (LBH) scheme for
2021/22 for the Reception / Junior entry which forms part of the Pan-London Co-ordinated Admissions
System are set out in this document. All maintained schools and academies are required to take part.
Where Parents/carers apply for places at a Voluntary Aided Denominational School or an Academy
/ Free School (in or outside Havering) they may need to complete a Supplementary Information Form
(SIF) for each of these Schools / Academies and submit them direct to the School / Academy
concerned with any documents that the School requests by the closing date. The SIF forms will be
available via Schools own websites.
Scheme for the co-ordination of Admissions into Reception / Junior in 2021/22
1. Applications from residents of LBH will be made on the Common Application Form (CAF). The
CAF will include all the fields and information specified in Schedule 1. These will be
supplemented by any additional fields and information which are deemed necessary by LBH
to enable the admission authorities in the LA area to apply their published oversubscription
criteria. Applicants can complete the CAF by applying online via the London eAdmissions
portal provided by London Grid For Learning (LGFL). This can be accessed via the LBH
website at: www.havering.gov.uk/eadmissions.
2. LBH will take all reasonable steps to ensure that every parent of a child due to start school in
September 2021 is made aware of the application process. LBH will also provide information
to every Ofsted registered early years provider within LBH for them to disseminate to parents
of children that are due to start school in September 2021. The information provided will detail
how parents can access LBH’s composite prospectus (referred to as the “online admissions
booklet” in this document) and details of how to apply online. The online admissions booklet
will also be available to parents who do not live in LBH, and will include information on how
they can access their home LA's CAF.
3. The admission authorities within LBH will not use Supplementary Information Forms (SIFs)
except where the information available through the CAF is insufficient for consideration of the
application against the published oversubscription criteria. Where SIFs are used by the
admissions authorities within LBH, the LA will seek to ensure that these only collect
information which is required by the published oversubscription criteria, in accordance with
paragraph 2.4 of the School Admissions Code 2014.
4. Where SIFs are used by admission authorities in LBH, they will be accessible via the schools
website. Such forms will advise parents that they must also complete their Home LA’s CAF.
LBH’s online admission booklet and website will indicate which schools in LBH require SIFs
to be completed.
5. Where a school in LBH receives a SIF, LBH will not consider it to be a valid application unless
the parent has also listed the school on their Home LA's CAF, in accordance with paragraph
2.3 of the School Admissions Code 2014.
46. Applicants will be able to express a preference for up to six maintained infant, junior or primary
schools or academies within and/or outside the Home LA.
7. The order of preference given on the CAF will not be revealed to any school within the area of
LBH to comply with paragraph 1.9 of the School Admissions Code 2014. However, where a
parent resident in LBH expresses a preference for schools in the area of another LA, the order
of preference for that LA’s schools will be revealed to that LA in order that it can determine the
highest ranked preference in cases where a child is eligible for a place at more than one school
in that LA’s area.
8. If parents experience difficulties completing a CAF online they will be advised to visit the Public
Advise and Service Centre (PASC) based in Romford where a member of the School
Admissions Staff will be able to assist. Parents unable to attend PASC can access support
by contacting the Havering School Admissions Team via phone or email. All applications must
be submitted by 11.59pm on the closing date 15 January 2021.
9. The online Admissions booklet provides guidance and should be read in conjunction with
making an online application. Where more than one version of the online application is
submitted, the last version submitted will be used.
10. LBH undertakes to carry out the address verification process set out in its entry in the LIAAG
Address Verification Register. This will, in all cases, include validation of resident applicants
against LBH's maintained nursery data and the further investigation of any discrepancy. In
addition, LBH may request documentary evidence of the child’s address. Where LBH is not
satisfied as to the validity of an address of an applicant whose preference has been sent to a
maintaining LA, it must advise the maintaining LA no later than 12 February 2021.
11. Where there is a discrepancy between the address given on the CAF and a school SIF, the
Admissions Team will work to identify the correct home address. If the matter remains
unresolved, the address on the CAF will be deemed as the correct address.
12. Applications made from LBH resident families working, or temporary living abroad, will be
processed with all other applicants. The address that the child is living at the time of
application, and at the closing date, will be used for purpose of processing. The applicant must
inform the LA on their return in order for the address to be updated. Proof of address and
occupancy will be requested.
13. LBH will confirm the status of any resident child for whom it receives a Common Application
Form stating s/he is currently or previously a 'Looked After Child' and will provide any evidence
requested by the maintaining LA in respect of a preference for a school in its area by 5
February 2021.
14. LBH will advise a maintaining LA of the reason for any preference expressed for a school not
in LBH's area, in respect of a resident child born outside of the correct age cohort and will
forward any supporting documentation to the maintaining LA by 5 February 2021.
Processing Applications
15. Applicants resident in LBH must submit the Common Application Form online by 15 January
2021.
16. Application data relating to all preferences for schools in the area of a participating LA, which
have been expressed within the terms of LBH’s scheme, will be uploaded to the Pan London
Register (PLR) by 5 February 2021. Supplementary information provided with the CAF will be
sent to maintaining LAs by the same date.
517. The timetable for the exchange of application and offer information between the LA and
schools within LBH is outlined in Schedule 2.
18. LBH will not normally consider late applications (i.e. applications received after the closing
date) until after the National offer date unless there are very exceptional circumstances.
Examples of what will be considered as good reason include: when a single parent has been
ill for some time, or has been dealing with the death of a close relative; a family has just moved
into the area or is returning from abroad (proof of ownership or tenancy of a property within
LBH will be required in these cases) or there is uncertainty affecting the date that the
application was received. Each case will be decided on its own merits.
19. Where such applications contain preferences for schools in other LAs, LBH will forward the
details to maintaining LAs via the PLR as they are received. LBH will accept late applications
which are considered to be on time within the terms of the Home LA’s scheme.
20. The latest date for the upload of late applications which are considered to be on-time to the
PLR is on 12 February 2021.
21. Where a parent moves from one participating home LA to another after submitting an on-time
application under the terms of the former home LA's scheme, the new home LA will accept
the application as on-time up to 11 February 2021, on the basis that an on-time application
already exists within the Pan-London system.
22. LBH will participate in the application data checking exercise to be scheduled between 15 and
26 February 2021 in the Pan-London timetable in Schedule 3.
23. All preferences for schools and academies within LBH will be considered by the relevant
admission authorities against the school’s published oversubscription criteria without
reference to rank order in accordance with paragraph 1.9 of the School Admissions Code
2014. When the admission authorities within LBH have provided a list of applicants in criteria
order to LBH, LBH shall, for each applicant to its schools for whom more than one potential
offer is available, use the highest ranked preference to decide which single potential offer to
make (This is the ‘Equal Preference System’ as defined in Schedule 4).
24. All applicants for a school must be included on the schools ranked list. LBH will provide all
own admission authorities home to school distances (straight line) to prioritise applicants tied
under a certain criterion. Where a school specifies a certain number of places to be offered
under each category e.g. performing arts and distance, a ranked list should be provided for
each category. Where appropriate, pupils may be included on more than one list.
25. LBH will carry out all reasonable checks to ensure that pupil rankings are correctly held in its
LAS for all maintained schools and academies in LBH before uploading data to the PLR.
26. LBH will upload the highest potential offer available to an applicant for a maintained school in
LBH to the PLR by 19 March 2021. The PLR will transmit the highest offer made by the
Maintaining LA to the Home LA.
27. The Local Admission System (LAS) of LBH will eliminate, as a Home LA, all but the highest
ranked offer where an applicant has more than one potential offer across Maintaining LAs
submitting information within deadline to the PLR. This will involve exchanges of preference
outcomes between the LAS and the PLR (in accordance with the iterative timetable published
in the annual Business User Guide) which will continue until notification that a steady state
has been achieved or until 26 March 2021 if this is sooner.
28. LBH will not make an additional offer between the end of the iterative process and 16 April
2021 which may impact on an offer being made by another participating LA.
29. Notwithstanding paragraph 28, if an error is identified within the allocation of places at a
6maintained school or academy in LBH, LBH will attempt to manually resolve the allocation to
correct the error. Where this impacts on another LA (either as a Home or Maintaining LA) LBH
will liaise with that LA to attempt to resolve the correct offer and any multiple offers which might
occur. However, if another LA is unable to resolve a multiple offer, or if the impact is too far
reaching, LBH will accept that the applicant(s) affected might receive a multiple offer.
30. LBH will participate in the offer data checking exercise to be scheduled between 29 March
and 9 April 2021 in the Pan-London timetable (Schedule 3).
31. LBH will send a file to the eAdmissions portal, with outcomes for all residents who have applied
online, no later than 13 April 2021. (33 London LAs & Surrey LA only).
Offers
32. LBH will inform all Havering applicants via the online eAdmissions application system of their
highest potential offer of a school place and, where relevant, the reasons why higher
preferences were not offered, whether they were for schools in the Home LA or in other
participating LAs.
33. LBH will ensure that, if there are places available, each resident applicant who cannot be
offered a preference expressed on the Common Application Form, receives an offer of an
alternative school place in accordance with paragraph 2.11 of the Schools Admissions Code
2014. In these circumstances the nearest school with vacancies, after all other on-time offers
have been made, will be offered (as measured by straight line distance).
34. On 16 April 2021, LBH will send notification of the outcome to resident applicants via the
eAdmissions portal. The notification and subsequent letter (which will be available to view
online) will include the information set out as detailed below (depending on the outcome):
i) the name of the school at which a place is offered. If it is not possible to offer a school
preference listed on the CAF, an alternative offer will be made to the closest school at
which a vacancy exists after all other offers have been made.
ii) the reason why an offer was not made for any school for which a higher preference may
have been expressed;
iii) notifies parents of their statutory right of appeal against the decisions to refuse a place at
any school for which they expressed a higher preference;
iv) Parents will be asked to respond to their offer of a place by 30 April 2021.
35. If parents do not respond by 30 April 2021 LBH will issue a reminder. If the parent still does
not respond LBH will make every reasonable effort to contact the parent to find out whether
or not they wish to accept the place. Only where the parent fails to respond and LBH can
demonstrate that every reasonable effort has been made to contact the parent, will the offer
of a place be withdrawn.
Post-offer
36. LBH will request that resident applicants accept or decline the offer of a place by 30 April
2021, or within two weeks of the date of any subsequent offer.
37. Where an applicant resident in LBH accepts or declines a place in a school maintained by
another LA by 30 April 2021, LBH will forward the information to the maintaining LA by 7 May
2021. Where such information is received from applicants after 30 April 2021, LBH will pass
it to the maintaining LA as it is received.
38. Where a place becomes available in an oversubscribed maintained school or academy in
7LBH’s area, it will be offered from a waiting list in accordance with paragraph 2.14 of the School
Admissions Code 2014.
39. When acting as a maintaining LA, LBH will place an applicant resident in the area of another
LA on a waiting list of any higher preference school.
40. Where a waiting list is held and maintained by a school / academy which is its own admission
authority in LBH, the admission authority will inform LBH of a potential offer, in order that the
offer may be made by the home LA.
41. When acting as a maintaining LA, LBH will inform the home LA, where different, of an offer for
a maintained school or Academy in LBH’s area which can be made to an applicant resident in
the home LA’s area, in order that the home LA can offer the place.
42. When acting as a maintaining LA, LBH and the admission authorities within it, will not inform
an applicant resident in another LA that a place can be offered.
43. When acting as a home LA, LBH will offer a place at a maintained school or academy in the
area of another LA to an applicant resident in its area, provided that the school is ranked higher
on the CAF than any school already offered.
44. When acting as a home LA, when LBH is informed by a maintaining LA of an offer which can
be made to an applicant resident in LBH’s area which is ranked lower on the CAF than any
school already offered, it will inform the maintaining LA that the offer will not be made and the
applicant must re-apply.
45. When acting as a home LA, when LBH has agreed to a change of preferences or preference
order, it will inform any maintaining LA affected by the change. In such cases, paragraphs 43
and 44 shall apply to the revised order of preferences.
46. When acting as a maintaining LA, LBH will inform the home LA, where different, of any change
to an applicant's offer status as soon as it occurs.
47. When acting as a maintaining LA, LBH will accept change of preferences or preference order
(including reinstated or additional preferences) from home LAs for maintained schools and
academies in its area.
48. Applicants’ names will be included on waiting lists for schools within LBH which have been
named as a higher preference than the one offered. For example, if a child has been offered
their third preference school, they will be included on the waiting list for their first and second
preference schools. Applicants’ names will not be included on waiting lists for schools which
were a lower preference than the one offered. Waiting lists will be created on the 30 April
2021 and any places available will be offered after this date. The admissions authority will
decide who is offered any subsequent vacancies. These places will be offered to children on
the waiting list for a LBH school in accordance with the schools’ published admission
arrangements.
49. For all schools, late applicants will be included on the school waiting list along with
unsuccessful applications received before the closing date, ranked in order of priority under
the school’s published admission criteria in accordance with paragraph 2.14 of the School
Admissions Code 2014.
50. LBH will start to make offers from the waiting list from 3 May 2021. LBH will continue to make
offers as and when places become available.
51. After preferences expressed in accordance with paragraph 6 above have been determined,
applicants may, before the start of the school term, revise their application by submitting a
8changed application form via the LBH website. The total number of preferences will be
restricted to 6 at any one time.
9SCHEDULE 1 - Minimum Content of Common Application Form (CAF) for
Admissions into Reception / Junior in 2021/20
Child’s details:
Surname
Forename(s)
Middle name(s)
Date of birth
Gender
Home address
Name of current school
Address of current school (if outside home LA)
Parent’s details:
Title
Surname
Forename
Address (if different to child’s address)
Telephone number (home, daytime, mobile)
Email address
Relationship to child
Preference details (x 6 recommended):
Name of school
Address of school
Preference ranking
Local authority in which the school is based
Additional information:
Reasons for preferences (including any medical or social reasons)
Does the child have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP)? Y/N
Is the child a ‘Looked After Child’ or a Previously Looked After Child but now adopted
or subject of a ‘Child Arrangements Order or ‘Special Guardianship Order’? Y/N
If yes
o name of responsible local authority
Is there a sibling currently attending the school? Y/N
If yes
o Surname of sibling
o Forename of sibling
o Date of birth of sibling
o Gender of sibling
o Name of school the sibling attends
Other:
Signature of parent or guardian
Date of signature
10SCHEDULE 2 - LBH Timetable for Reception / Junior Admissions 2021/22
15 January 2021
Closing date for completed online
applications (CAF) to be submitted
5 February 2021
LBH applicant data for schools in other LA’s
uploaded to PLR. Applicant data from other
LA’s received from PLR
10 February 2021
Community Schools,
Schools with List of applications to own admission
Voluntary Controlled
SIFS authority schools without preference rank
number Schools & Academies
12 February 2021
Last date for late applicants accepted in
exceptional circumstances to be uploaded
Schools consider to PLR
applications against
own admission criteria 15 – 26 February 2021
LA undertakes application data checking
exercise with other LA’s
By 1 March 2021
Schools return list of 10 February –
applicants ranked in 1 - 12 March 2021 1 March 2021
priority order in LA checks ranked lists to identify errors LA consider applications
accordance with against published
criteria and place type admission criteria
(where appropriate) to
LA 15 - 19 March 2021
LA runs the single offer process
19 March 2021
LA uploads highest potential offer
Information for Havering Schools to PLR
22 - 26 March 2021
LBH (as Home LA) eliminates multiple offers
for residents across maintaining LA’s and
transmits information to PLR. Other home
LA’s do the same for their residents. PLR in
turn notifies LBH of offer information for
maintained schools
29 March – 9 April 2021
LA undertakes offer data checking exercise
with other LA’s
13 April 2021
Deadline for on-line ALT file to portal
16 April 2021
LBH notifies resident applicants of outcome.
Other Home LA’s do the same for their
residents
11SCHEDULE 3 – LIAAG Timetable for Admissions to Reception / Junior in
2021/22
Fri 15 Jan 2021 Statutory deadline for receipt of applications
Fri 5 Feb 2021 Deadline for the transfer of application information
by the Home LA to the PLR (ADT file).
Fri 12 Feb 2021 Deadline for the upload of late applications to the
PLR.
Mon 15 – Wed 26 Feb 2021 Checking of application data
Fri 19 Mar 2021 Deadline for the transfer of potential offer
information from Maintaining LAs to the PLR (ALT
file)
Fri 26 Mar 2021 Final ALT file to PLR
Mon 29 Mar – Fri 9 Apr 2021 Checking of offer data
Tues 13 Apr 2021 Deadline for on-line ALT file to portal
Fri 16 April 2021 Parents advised of offer
Fri 30 April 2021 Deadline for return of acceptances
Fri 7 May 2021 Deadline for transfer of acceptances to
maintaining LAs
12SCHEDULE 4 – The Equal Preference System
LBH processes all applications using the equal preference system which is a model system
where all preferences listed on the Common Application Form (CAF) are considered under the
Admissions Criteria for each school without reference to parental rankings.
The “Equal Preference System” was created to prevent schools giving higher priority to parents
who make a particular school their first preference. The system is set out in the School
Admissions Code and it has legal force.
Every school that you place on your online application form is treated as if it was a separate
application – each one is equal – and the highest possible preference will be offered. The
admission authority cannot discriminate against your application simply because you did not
put a school in first place on the CAF.
Schools are not told where you ranked them in your preferences. Admission authorities are
expressly forbidden by law (again, it is detailed in the Admissions Code) from passing on this
information.
Below is a highly simplified explanation of how the system works, but it is important to realise
that the system is considerably more complicated than the example below and the admissions
criteria for any school are always far more complex than in this example.
A simple example of how the “Equal Preference System” works
“Sample LA” has three schools: Park School, Town School and Wood School, and each
school has a published admissions number of 3 (can offer places to three children). There
are therefore nine places available across this “sample” Local Authority and there are nine
children requiring places.
Places are offered according to the distance the children live from the school. Parents can
express up to three preferences, and their applications were completed as follows.
Abdul Beth Takita David Ethan Fred Gavin Harry Jane
Pref 1 Town Park Park Park Wood Town Town Park Town
Pref 2 Park Wood Town Town Town Wood Park Wood Park
Pref 3 - Town Wood - Park Park - Town Wood
After all applications had been considered against the schools published admissions criteria
and the equal preference system applied, the outcomes were as follows.
PARK – 3 PLACES TOWN – 3 PLACES WOOD – 3 PLACES
1 Beth (1) - 0.2km Jane (1) - 0.1km Harry (2) - 0.5km
2 Takita (1) - 0.5km Abdul (1) - 0.3km Ethan (1) - 0.8km
3 David (1) - 0.7km Fred (1) - 0.5km Gavin – 2.1km
4 Harry (1) - 0.9km Gavin (1) – 2.5km
5 Gavin (2) - 2km
A step by step explanation of how these outcomes were achieved is below.
Step 1: The children are listed for all schools that they have named on their application form,
not in the order of their preferences, but in order of the admissions criterion which, in this
simplified example, is purely distance and nothing else. (That is an unrealistic situation, but
the simplified example is designed to help you to understand the essential process.) The
13children’s application preferences are shown in brackets and distances to the school are also
shown.
PARK – 3 PLACES TOWN – 3 PLACES WOOD – 3 PLACES
1 Beth (1) - 0.2km Jane (1) - 0.1km Takita (3) - 0.3km
2 Fred (3) - 0.3km Takita (2) - 0.18km Jane (3) - 0.4km
3 Jane (2) - 0.4km Beth (3) - 0.2km Harry (2) - 0.5km
4 Takita (1) - 0.5km Harry (3) - 0.25km Beth (2) - 0.6km
5 Ethan (3) - 0.6km Abdul (1) - 0.3km Fred (2) - 0.7km
6 David (1) - 0.7km Ethan (2) - 0.4km Ethan (1) - 0.8km
7 Harry (1) - 0.9km Fred (1) - 0.5km
8 Abdul (2) - 1.0km David (2) - 0.6km
9 Gavin (2) - 2km Gavin (1) - 2.5km
Step 2: Beth and Jane are at the top of the lists for their first preference school, so they are
offered places and removed from the lists for the other two schools. Also, as Fred, Harry and
Takita can be offered their 2nd preferences, their 3rd preferences are removed from the lists
as follows:
PARK – 3 PLACES TOWN – 3 PLACES WOOD – 3 PLACES
1 Beth (1) - 0.2km Jane (1) - 0.1km
2 Takita (2) - 0.18km
3 Harry (2) - 0.5km
4 Takita (1) - 0.5km
5 Ethan (3) - 0.6km Abdul (1) - 0.3km Fred (2) - 0.7km
6 David (1) - 0.7km Ethan (2) - 0.4km Ethan (1) - 0.8km
7 Harry (1) - 0.9km Fred (1) - 0.5km
8 Abdul (2) - 1.0km David (2) - 0.6km
9 Gavin (2) - 2km Gavin (1) – 2.5km
Step 3: Ethan, Takita, Fred, Abdul and David can be offered a place at their 1st preference
so are removed from the lists of their lower preferences.
PARK – 3 PLACES TOWN – 3 PLACES WOOD – 3 PLACES
1 Beth (1) - 0.2km Jane (1) - 0.1km
2
3 Harry (2) - 0.5km
4 Takita (1) - 0.5km
5 Abdul (1) - 0.3km
6 David (1) - 0.7km Ethan (1) - 0.8km
7 Harry (1) - 0.9km Fred (1) - 0.5km
8
9 Gavin (2) - 2km Gavin (1) – 2.5km
14Step 4: All the remaining children now move up the lists into the vacant places.
PARK – 3 PLACES TOWN – 3 PLACES WOOD – 3 PLACES
1 Beth (1) - 0.2km Jane (1) - 0.1km Harry (2) - 0.5km
2 Takita (1) - 0.5km Abdul (1) - 0.3km Ethan (1) - 0.8km
3 David (1) - 0.7km Fred (1) - 0.5km **Gavin - 2.1km
4 Harry (1) - 0.9km Gavin (1) – 2.5km
5 Gavin (2) - 2km
Step 5: Harry has received a place at his second preference school but will stay on the
waiting list for his first preference, Park School. Unfortunately Gavin has not been offered
either of his preference schools, so has receive an allocation of a place at Wood School,
which was not one of the preferences on his application but does have a vacancy.
Gavin’s situation demonstrates:
The importance of using all the preferences on the application form if you feel that you need
to, especially if you are trying to avoid being offered a particular school.
That you must be realistic about your chances of getting in to a particular school. Gavin’s
parents may not have understood just how poor his chances of getting into their first and
second preference schools were.
The example above also demonstrates how pointless it is to do what some parents do, which
is to name only one school (often a heavily over-subscribed one) on the application form in
the belief that “if I only put that school down they will have to give us a place”.
Wherever possible you must name at least one school that would be an acceptable “last
resort” for your child.
15You can also read
